Kansas Jayhawks’ Self after loss to Arkansas: ‘Our newcomers looked slow & lost’

Three incoming transfers and two freshmen made their Kansas men’s basketball debuts against Arkansas on Friday night before a sellout crowd of 19,200 at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville, Ark.

The results in exhibition game No. 1 ahead of KU’s 2024-25 season were not pretty: The Jayhawks’ newcomers combined for 32 points on 13-of-33 shooting, going 3-of-16 from 3-point range in an 85-69 blowout loss to the Razorbacks.

“I thought our newcomers looked slow and lost,” KU coach Bill Self said in assessing his team’s play without preseason All-American Hunter Dickinson and projected rotation players Rylan Griffen and Shakeel Moore.

All three missed Friday evening’s contest because of injuries.

“Our newcomers, other than Rakease Passmore, didn’t have very good nights at all tonight,” Self said. “I think Rakease Passmore, for what his role is, he was the best player in the game for us.”

A freshman guard, Passmore scored 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting, going 1-of-3 from 3-point range and 2-of-4 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed six rebounds in his 19 minutes of action.

AJ Storr, who was Wisconsin’s leading scorer last year, had eight points on 4-of-11 shooting (0-4 from 3-point range), while former South Dakota State guard Zeke Mayo had seven points on 2-of-6 shooting (2-of-5 from 3-point range with three turnovers). Former Northern Illinois guard David Coit had no points on 0-for-5 shooting (0-4 from 3).

Freshman forward Flory Bidunga had six points on 3-of-4 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds in 26 minutes

“In large part, that’s me,” Self said of the newcomers’ overall performance. “We weren’t going to run anything. It’s an exhibition game. We didn’t try to run anything. We didn’t try to do anything tricky. The way we have practiced playing for a long time, it didn’t resemble that without Hunter out there.”

The good news is 7-foot-2 big man Dickinson, who said in an SEC Network interview during the game he’d be ready for the start of the season, could return to practice on Sunday or Monday. Griffen (hip flexor) and Moore (ankle) are also expected to be back at practice Sunday or Monday.

“It wasn’t our team, first of all,” Self said when asked if he “learned anything” about the Jayhawks in the defeat. “I didn’t learn anything very favorable. I learned their three-guards kicked our three-guards’ butt. I’m thinking it’ll be a different team when some other guys get out there.”

Things were so bad at times Friday that Self said, “that’s what our team looked like at the end of last year, and that was no fun.”

The Jayhawks’ 2023 season ended with an 89-68 loss to Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. KU finished 23-11.

Self said Arkansas guards Boogie Fland (22 points, five assists), D.J. Wagner (24 points) and Johnell Davis (five points in returning from injury) “will be the best trio of guards we play against this year. There won’t be anybody better than that we play against. They’ve got a good team.”

Self noted that he thinks the current Razorbacks team could be better than several of first-year Arkansas coach John Calipari’s Kentucky squads from the past 10 years.

“As bad as it was (for KU),” Self continued, “we missed quite a few open looks. We had some unforced turnovers that led to layups and dunks for them. Statistically you make four free throws (in 10 tries) and your opponent makes 23 (of 28), that tends to create a little bit of a scoring difference.”

KU senior point guard Dajuan Harris scored 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting. He hit 4 of 5 three-pointers with two assists to two turnovers (and three steals) in 32 minutes. His high point total in a regular-season game was 23 points last season against Kentucky.

“Juan scored points,” Self said. “Juan’s measure as a player for us is, ‘Is his defense better than the other team’s best guard’s offense?’ it wasn’t tonight.”

Of rookie forward Bidunga’s performance in his exhibition debut, Self said of the power forward: “Flory will be a very good backup. Flory is not a starter. Zach (Clemence, no points, three rebounds, four turnovers, 10 minutes) needs to be a guy who can give you five to 10 minutes off the bench as a 4, and he didn’t get that opportunity tonight because we were too small.”

The Jayhawks will next meet Washburn at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Allen Fieldhouse. The Jayhawks’ regular season opens Nov. 4 against Howard. That one, too, will be a 7 p.m. tip at Allen.

“I’m not going to leave out of here happy, by any stretch,” Self said, “but I won’t leave out of here discouraged. I know that’s not who we are. That’s not what our team is.”